>> the latest winter blast stretches across the country, and temperatures shattered records in maryland and virginia and on the roads, dozens of accidents, and in the air, more than 850 flight cancellations nationwide. and tonight, we have team coverage of the dangerous weather ahead, and tonight, with begin with adam tuss to tell us what the drivers are dealing with. hi, adam. >> well, hello, doreen, and the situation improved today and the sun came out and that made the situation on the roads better. but, look, with we have plenty of snow and ice out here sh, an when this freezes, melts and freezes again, and that is w th about tonight. >> reporter: river road earlier today h in the ditch and off of the road. plenty of drivers say it is a challenge to get around. >> you think they did a good job? >> well -- yeah. well. >> reporter: what about it don't you think. >> well, it is not good of a job as last time.

>> reporter: clearing off the car is a good idea. you are cleaning the car off and you are going to take a step here, and pat on the back there, man. >> thank you. >> reporter: and a constant monitoring of the roads at vdot to make sure that everybody can get back up to speed. >> what drivers may see is the thin layer of snow-packed ice on the roads. with e try to get as much of that up in the day as we can can, but after that, it is all about taking it slow. >> reporter: ah, yes, the sun shining on dell drive in falls church making for bare pavement, but wait a second, farther the, and get into the shade and all of the sudden, you are back in the e snow cover and it is this the stuff that when it is packed down and freezes again, this is going to be the tough stuff to get off of the roads. road crews have had a busy couple of days and for some, they took the matters into their own hands, and that is right, sholing the street. by the way, this is not what you want to be doing.

>> do not go out into the street with your own snow shovel. bad idea. >> and we we told you how to report if you have ice on your street, go to the district in 311 and in maryland the state highway administration has the district offices listed on the website and that should help you out. reporting live in falls church, adam tuss. things are returning to normal on all routes for the buses. they returned to service at 7:00, and used snow detour routes, a nd a vast majority of the buses got back on track this afternoon. and the parking restrek shuns are back to normal and the city the lifted the snow emerge is si this morning, but not before it towed 90 vehicles and put tickets in the windshields of another 1,100 that were parked ale long the snow emergency routes, and the ticket and the tow fines can be auch as $250 per clroblems with air

travel are easing up. at the height of the storm, 2,800 flights were grounded and most of them in the d.c. area, and right now the delays continue as the airlines are trying to get back on track. with we have an update from the local airports and there are about 100 cancellations at reagan national, and bwi and dulles, and 100 delays. >> and now weather is prompting some schools to cancel classes for third straight day. and culpepper schools will be closed tomorrow, and charles and st. mary's, and loudoun county school cans will be on a two-hour delay. doug kammerer, it is going to be staying cold for a while? >> well, a little while, but not the frigid air again. this is simply amazing and historical how cold we were last night and into the early morning. take a look at the the numbers the lows today, 14 in d.c. on the cold side, but most areas away are from the water, much colder 4 below in manassas, and 6 below in culpepper, and we set

a couple of records. one of the records with was dulles airport, and the old record is 6 degrees in 1980, and the new record is 1 below zero, and we tied a record at bwi, and it with t ith was the coldest temperature ever. and so it is not going anywhere any time soon, but we will see some warming coming up in the next couple of days. >> thank you, doug. and now a traffic issue that has the d.c. mayor so upset that he is talking to the secret service. this was tweeted yesterday saying that the southbound lanes were closed because of icy conditions, but it turns out that the lanes in front of the willard hotel were closed by the secret service for a visiting dignitary, and shomari stone has the latest. >> well, the mayor is issuing strong words in the letter that

you are about to see. let me show you right behind me, you can see that the lanes are open at northwest 14th street a and pennsylvania avenue, but it was a traffic headache for downtown d.c. drivers this morning. and mayor gray sent the letter to the secret service saying he is outraged that the lanes were closed. and the video, traffic was heavy in the rush hour, and the secret service closed the southbound lanes in the downtown corridor by the willard hotel. dignitaries were staying at the willard for five days and in d.c. for international conference, and they usually stayt the blair house, but it is being renovated. in this letter, the secret service to the mayor, we appreciate the important dignitary's visit to the white house, and they must be afforded ev every protection and courtesy available burk i do not understand why the secret service insists on dignitaries

be staying in hotels that forces the city to be paralyzed by traffic. and momentis ago, the secret service told me that they will review this issue, and plan ob meeting with the mayor about it. live if in northwest d.c., i'm shomari stone. thank you, shomari. tonight, new reaction from the family of a woman who was murdered by a fellow student at the university of virginia. today, he found out that he is going to be staying in prison. george hughley is his name. he lost his appeal, and his lawyers argued that he was denied the right to counsel when one of his lawyers became sick in 2012. today the court of appeals rejected that argument. he is from chevy chase and serving 33 years for the ur mder of yeardley love in 2010. yeardl yeardley's family release a statement and said we are

relieved and ready to put the chapter behind us so we can devote our efforts to building the one love foundation and continue to raise awareness about relationship violence. and now no the crisis in ukraine. today, russian president vladimir putin said that he did not send the russian forces to crim crimea. his remarks stunned world leaders, but at the same time tensions seem to be easing. steve handelsman has more. >> and yes, thank you, doreen. some saw the news conference and thought that putin had taken leave of his senses, but he did try to lower the temperature of the crisis. >> reporter: russian president vladimir putin was reassuring to some. he said force was not needed for now in ukraine. and he pulled russian troops from the border. but putin claim ed that ukrainians are living in terror, and he denied that he put the russian army into crimea, south ukraine. they are local self-defense

forces, putin said. some of the troops fired warning shots today near ukrainian forces. president obama said that russia is not fooling anyone, and he does not respect ukrainian democracy. >> and mr. putin can throw a lot of words out there, but the facts on the ground indicate that right now, he is not abiding by that principle. >> reporter: secretary of state kerry was on the square in kiev where hundreds died in demonstrations trying to take down the pro russian prest. kerry denied that ukraine is plagued by the terror that russia says. >> rush ha is working hard to create a pretext for being able to advance further. >> the u.s. plan is to pressure putin not to. >> can we affect the outcome here? >> the former ambassador said that economic sanctions could stop putin. >> he is sensitive to that and he should be, because it could

have a real effect on the economy. >> reporter: and in the congress are ready to freeze the assets of russia if there is no pull out of crimea, but putin said that any losses are mutual, because he said that russia, a big oil producer would retaliate against any sanctions. and finally, breaking news, the obama administration has decided to withhold an observation from the sochi paraolympics that are set to start soon, but the paralympian will compete. i 'm steve handelsman for news4. and now, congress is struggling to get through the $ $3.9 trillion budget. it has many domestic initiatives such as kindergarten spending, and many of the the initiatives would be paid for by the wealthy and taxes. >> it is values, and we have to decide to protect the tax breaks

for the americans, or make smart investments to create jobs and grow the economy. >> reporter: and critics of the president's budget is john boehner calling it perhaps the most irresponsible budget yet. after the remarks, president obama went to visit a kindergarten can class in washington, d.c. and there is something to look forward to, folks, despite the awful weather to endure. to night the national park service promises that it is not going to be long now before the cherry blossoms are in bloom. before they are blossoming if you will. and right now the tidal basin is covered in snow and ice and not too many people are walking around down there, but kristin wright is because she is one tough mama, and she is going to tell us when it is going to change. >> hey, thank you, vance. yes, that is right. and tonight, snow as far as the eye can see. but, the announcement today by the park service kind of reminds you of groundhog day, and their

prediction, five more weeks and then full bloom. the national cherry blossom starts in two weeks, and that can only mean that spring is almost here. >> i have been through nashville, and memphis and new orleans and all of the way to the keys and i finally found sunshine, a n then i came to washington, and i found snow. >> reporter: that's the feeling as winter winds down and not so quietly. >> i came to town to go to the smithsonian and even the smithsonians were closed yesterday. >> reporter: at the tide theal basin the cherry blossoms will be in ploom, and slowed, but not stopped by the icy winter months and the tiny buds are dormant, and the national park service says it won't be long though. >> we are confident that ewe wil see the peak blooming period occur this year between the 8th and the 12th of april.

>> i think that spring is coming. >> reporter: well shgs s, it is right now, the baseball diamond is white and not green and the cherry blossom buds are brown and not white. but give it a month or maybe less. >> when we have a nice warm spell, that can happen overnight or a matter of days. >> the colors are pink and red and they radiate everywhere. it is goer jogorgeous. >> and we should say that the smithsonian was open yesterday, and from the tidal basin, kristin wright, knnews4. and one person found dead at a townhouse, and what we are finding of the other injured before the accident. and dramatic video from police officer's point of view, and the question is whether that cop crossed the line. and the report of why some say that the